Underworld don Ravi Pujari who was arrested in South Africa on Sunday, was flown to Bengaluru, police said on Monday, with this his run for over 15 years comes to an end.

“A four-member Karnataka Police team brought Pujari to Bengaluru in the wee hours of the day in an Air France flight via Paris after he was extradited from Senegal in Africa,” news agency IANS quoted City Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Jain as saying.

The police team was led by state Additional Director General of Police AK Pandey and Bengaluru joint commissioner of police Sandeep Patil, a police inspector and a constable.

“Pujari will be produced in the first Additional City Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court in the city for judicial custody,” Jain said.

Pujari was taken to an undisclosed place in the city from the international airport under tight security.

According to the Indian Intelligence sources, Pujari was nabbed in a remote South African village where he was hiding with a false identity as Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder.

“Pujari had jumped bail from Senegal last year and escaped to South Africa and got involved in big-time trafficking and extortion,” sources said.

On a tip-off from the Indian intelligence, the Senegal police flew to South Africa last week.

Pujari was detained with the help of the South African agencies.

Pujari shot to notoriety in early 2000 when he started extorting huge amounts from famous Bollywood personalities and builders. He was involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.

Over 200 cases including murder and extortion are registered against the gangster.

Last year when Pujari was arrested in Senegal, the Indian officials tried to extradite him but a local court granted him bail and Pujari later fled to South Africa.

Police sources on Sunday said the gangster was arrested from a village in a joint operation by the South African and Senegal police.

After he was brought to Senegal, the Indian team completed extradition formalities, they added.

Pujari was initially associated with gangster Chhota Rajan, but he had also worked for fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

(With IANS inputs)